Xbox SmartGlass

Xbox SmartGlass: What's All the Fuss About?

While I’m sure some people chuckled at the prospect of IE on Xbox, Xbox SmartGlass actually stole the show.

Last week, I joked about the pile of crappy gimmicks we’d be seeing at E3, and while Sony proved me right with the incredibly painful Wonderbook, Microsoft actually announced something that was better than branded floaties and a kiddie pool simulator. I know — hard to believe anything could be better than that.

While I’m sure some people chuckled at the prospect of IE on Xbox, Xbox SmartGlass actually stole the show. The Xbox 360 has become a hub for on-demand television, so Microsoft is hoping to seal that reputation with SmartGlass, its new Xbox-exclusive rich-media playback system that uses your cell phone, tablet and Xbox to make media playback more interactive.

For example, while watching a movie from services like Netflix on your Xbox, SmartGlass could show the movie’s cast information on your tablet. Considering how many times I’ve reached for IMDb while watching a movie or TV show, this seems like it would be awesome. I just hope it uses an existing database like IMDb instead of limiting it to in-house stuff that will be less capable of cross-referencing and showing trivia data like "Game of Thrones’ Oona Chaplin is Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter, and she’s a lot hotter than he is.”

In an example of more customized rich media for SmartGlass, Microsoft demoed a Game of Thrones map that updated as the story progressed. Obviously, this wouldn’t be something that every show would get automatically, so people who are dying to see an interactive map of 1978 Greenwich Village for their favorite Woody Allen movie, start your petitioning!

Microsoft also demoed Halo and NFL using SmartGlass, but these were less convincing and definitely gimmicky. I can’t think of anything more annoying than reaching a door in-game and having to pick up your phone to frantically mash the passcode as aliens rip you a new one. Luckily, these things will be optional for games that incorporate SmartGlass.

The pleasant surprise was that SmartGlass will support Windows phone, Android and iOS. It is refreshing to see that Microsoft isn’t stretching itself thin by trying to sell both phones and Xboxes with this feature, because Windows tablets — they exist, apparently — ain’t as popular as the Xbox 360.